WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1715/97 by Hiltrud BREYER to the Commission. Electricity Grid Feed Act
Date: 1997-05-23
Institutions: BREYER, European Parliament
Subjects: EU Member State, Germany, competition law, electrical energy, electricity supply, national implementing measure, renewable energy, single market, wind energy

10. 2. 98

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 45/87

(98/C 45/106)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1715/97

by Hiltrud Breyer (V) to the Commission

(23 May 1997)

Subject: Electricity Grid Feed Act

The  letter  of  26  October  1996  from  Commissioner  Van  Miert  to  Germany(cid:146)s  Federal  Minister  for  Economic
Affairs,  Rexrodt,  refers  to  adverse  effects  of  the  Electricity  Grid  Feed  Act  on  intra-Community  trade  in
electricity.  However,  within  the  EU  electricity  is  traded  only  by  vertically  integrated  undertakings  such  as
PreussenElektra, and not by distributors such as Schleswag, EWE, U¤ NH, etc. However, under the Electricity
Grid Feed Act only the latter are required to take delivery of electricity generated using wind power and to pay a
higher  price  for  it  than  for  other  electricity.  PreussenElektra,  which  is  an  independent  producer  and
transmission-grid operator, has not so far been required to pay for a single kilowatt-hour of electricity generated
from wind power. The only way in which the vertically integrated undertaking PreussenElektra has been affected
by the feeding into the distribution grid of electricity from wind power has been in the form of reduced sales of
electricity to distribution companies.

In the light of these facts, what is the Energy Commissioner(cid:146)s view of the impact of the Electricity Grid

1.
Feed Act on intra-Community trade in electricity?

2.
How should this impact be assessed in the light of the entry into force of the Directive laying down common
rules for the internal market in electricity, particularly Article 14(3), pursuant to which energy supply enterprises
are required to separate the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity?

3. What is the Commission(cid:146)s view of the fact that PreussenElektra seeks to assist its subsidiaries or associated
undertakings, such as Schleswag or Sydkraft, bearing in mind Article 7(5) of the Directive laying down common
rules for the internal market in electricity, which prohibits discrimination in the following terms: (cid:145)The system
operator  shall  not  discriminate  between  system  users  or  classes  of  system  users,  particularly  in  favour  of  its
subsidiaries or shareholders.(cid:146)

4.
Does the Commission agree that Articles 8(3) and 11(3) of the Directive laying down common rules for the
internal  market  in  electricity  expressly  provide  for  the  possibility  of  assigning  priority  to  renewable  energy,
including  therefore  the  introduction  of  minimum  payments  for  electricity  generated  from  renewable  energy
sources, such as those guaranteed by the Electricity Grid Feed Act in Germany?

Answer given by Mr Papoutsis on behalf of the Commission

(26 June 1997)

The  German  Stromeinspeisegesetz  (Electricity  Grid  Feed  Act)  obliges  electricity  distribution  companies  to
purchase, at a guaranteed minimum price, electricity produced from renewable energy sources. The Commission
was notified of the Act and approved it in 1990 in accordance with Article 92 of the EC Treaty. However, the
Commission finds that support is being given to renewable energies in market conditions and at prices which
have since changed.

1.
In its Resolution of 27 May 1997 on a strategy for renewable sources for energy, adopted following the
Commission’s Green Paper (1), the Council notes that within the framework of liberalisation of energy markets an
active governmental policy on the level of Member States and › taking into account the principle of subsidiarity
›  on  Community  level  is  necessary  to  improve  the  competitiveness  of  renewable  energies.  For  its  part,  the
Commission will shortly be presenting a White Paper and an action plan on renewable energies, in which it will
examine  whether  an  approach  comparable  to  that  of  the  Stromeinspeisegesetz  would  be  an  appropriate
instrument.

Directive 96/92/EC on the internal market in electricity (2) entered into force on 19 February 1997.
2. and 3.
Member States have two years in which to transpose it into national law. The Commission is therefore not in a
position at present to assess Preussen Elektra’s behaviour in respect of Articles 7(5) and 14(3) thereof.

Articles  8(3)  and  11(3)  of  the  Directive  do  indeed  allow  renewable  energies  to  be  prioritised  in  the
4.
dispatching of generating installations, but the Directive gives no indication as to their financing, which is to be
determined at national level as part of the transposition mentioned at 2. and 3. above, without prejudice to the
Treaty’s provisions on State aids.

(1)  Doc. COM(96) 576.
(2)  OJ L 27, 30.1.1997.